The setting of BBM - coincidence?

[BlissC]

I know Annie Proulx lives in Wyoming, and many of her stories (the 'Close Range' collection of short stories, and 'Bad Dirt') are set in Wyoming, but it's just suddenly struck me that Wyoming's motto is "Equal Rights". Is it just a coincidence that Brokeback's set in Wyoming, or can we read more into the setting of BBM given the state's motto? Another coincidence, or intentional?

[Front-Ranger]

Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote and that's why the motto. I believe it had something to do with the scarcity of residents in the state, which is still our least populous. Wyoming was also the first state to have a woman governor.

Annie Proulx received an award that allowed her to spend time writing. She was able to choose what state she wanted to do the writing in. She chose Wyoming, and went to the Ucross Foundation, a ranch in the Big Horn Mountains that offers accommodations to writers. Of that experience came Close Range, Wyoming Stories and the rest, as they say, is history.

The irony of all this is that Wyoming, a state that values freedom of rights, individuality and privacy, is also a place where prejudice reigns sometimes. All that is changing, but much too slowly.

Another cruel irony is the tragic fact that Matthew Sheppard was beaten and left for dead, tied to a barbed wire fence, almost exactly a year after Brokeback Mountain was published, near Laramie, Wyoming, in a gay hate crime.

[BlissC]

Another cruel irony is the tragic fact that Matthew Sheppard was beaten and left for dead, tied to a barbed wire fence, almost exactly a year after Brokeback Mountain was published, near Laramie, Wyoming, in a gay hate crime.

Ah, now you mention it I remember reading about that somewhere. As you say, it's ironic that in a state that values freedom of rights etc. there can sometimes can be huge amount of prejudice and hatred.

I do remember reading about the history of the state and the how the motto came about. I can't find where I read it now (really must organise my bookmarks better!) but it reminded me when you said about it having something to do with the scarcity of residents in the state, that it was something to do with an imbalance between the male and female population as well (though I may have drempt that  ).

It just struck me when I first heard Wyoming referred to as the "Equality State" that maybe there was some significance in that with having a history of valuing equality and individuality, that maybe Annie Proulx had it in the back of her mind that being known for it's equality values that perhaps Wyoming was a good setting for Brokeback.

[Brown Eyes]

Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote and that's why the motto. I believe it had something to do with the scarcity of residents in the state, which is still our least populous. Wyoming was also the first state to have a woman governor.

Yes, Wyoming was way, way ahead of U.S. states and territories in terms of women's voting rights and it was also way ahead of other industrialized nations in that regard.  Wyoming granted women the right to vote when it was still a territory in 1869.  Wyoming became a state in 1890 and the voting rights for women held.  It's fascinating to realize that the first states/ territories to grant women the right to vote were Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Colorado.  Utah went back and forth in granting and denying women the right to vote. But, ultimately Utah was one of the first four states.  And, yes, these progressive measures had a lot to do with those territories/ states trying to attract more female residents... but it also had a lot to do with huge efforts put forth by local and national suffragists.  None of the suffrage victories came easily.  Those were the only four states where women could vote at the time that Susan B. Anthony died in 1906.... and so she was buried with a flag that only had four stars on it.

There were far more suffrage victories early in the west vs. the east in the U.S.  These days we tend to think of the northeast as being more liberal/ progressive, etc. but back in the main years of the suffrage fight, attitudes about women's rights were the opposite from what we might expect these days in many cases.

[LauraGigs]

It just struck me when I first heard Wyoming referred to as the "Equality State" that maybe there was some significance in that with having a history of valuing equality and individuality, that maybe Annie Proulx had it in the back of her mind that being known for it's equality values that perhaps Wyoming was a good setting for Brokeback.

No.  She was in Wyoming, and spotted an older man alone in a bar eyeing the younger men as they played pool.  She got an idea for a character: a lonely gay man whose happier days are behind him (Ennis).

Wyoming's motto is an interesting one in relation to the story, yes.  But it's a coincidence.

[BlissC]

No.  She was in Wyoming, and spotted an older man alone in a bar eyeing the younger men as they played pool.  She got an idea for a character: a lonely gay man whose happier days are behind him (Ennis).

Yep, I've read that before too...I guess just Brokeback gets me reading all sorts of meanings into coincidences that just that, coincidences.